1. Themes, Characterization and Symbols
Lord of the Flies
Themes,
Characterization and
Symbols

2. Theme 1
The main theme of the novel is that man needs civilization to control our inherently evil nature.
Golding claims that when the rules of society slip away, human beings revert to a more primitive (and evil) part of their nature.

3. Theme 2 Evil (the beast) lies within man himself.
Golding implies that an understanding of our essentially evil nature results in a loss of innocence.
This loss of innocence (or coming to terms with reality) is necessary to overcome our baser instincts.

4. Themes 3&4
Fear - We fear what we don’t understand. Fear of the unknown increases the terror of the beast.
Power – The story is a study in the acquisition and use of power. Ralph is democratically elected, but soon loses control to Jack, a more aggressive and violent leader. Jack is a classic bully.

5. Characterization
Golding establishes a sense of reality through his descriptions of the boys.
For example:
The boy’s language is the language of ordinary children.
The boys have ordinary physical attributes and mannerisms.

6. The Boys Are Realistic
To stress the universality of their actions, Golding presents the boys as exhibiting normal behavior.
The ‘littluns” suck their thumbs, eat sloppily, and are easily frightened.
The older ones enjoy hunting, making forts, and swimming instead of working.

7. Characterization: Their Lives As Savages
The boys’ metamorphosis from ordinary schoolboys into bloodthirsty savages seems believable because it is not a sudden conversion, but rather, evolves gradually, almost unnoticed.

8. Characterizing Piggy Piggy is different: He’s fat. He wears glasses.
His speech is different.
He has asthma.
He’s smarter.

9. The Boy’s Treatment of Piggy is Realistic
The boys’ unkindness to Piggy is credible. Children often display cruelty toward anyone they consider different or inferior.
Piggy becomes the outsider, the “other.”

10. Characterizing Ralph
Ralph is a tall, blond twelve year old, who is elected leader of the boys.
Throughout the story, he struggles to maintain order and is forced to compete with Jack for respect.

11. Ralph Is a Dynamic Character
A dynamic character is one who undergoes a change (in personality) during the story because of learning a truth or coming to a self- realization.
Ralph is an example of a dynamic character.

12. Ralph’s Original Character
1. Enjoys the absence of adults on the island
2. Popular
3. Indifferent to Piggy
4. Enjoys the island
5. Likes Jack
6. Trusts others
7. Refuses to accept the beast.

13. B. Ralph’s Character Change
1. Wishes adults were present on the island
2. Becomes an outcast
3. Appreciates Piggy
4. Hates the island
5. Fears Jack
6. Trusts no one
7. Learns that the beast is within

14. C. What Changes Him 1. Decay of order 2. His own insistence on rules
3. Need for intelligence
4. Brutality revealed in Jack and others
5. Betrayal by others

15. Characterizing Jack Jack, chief representative of evil in the novel.
He is at first, too inhibited by society’s teachings even to kill a pig.
However, he progresses to exhilaration in killing.

16. …Jack
Eventually, he kills for the sheer thrill of slaughter rather than the need for meat.
Killing enforces his dominance over the others.
He seeks power.

17. Characters as Symbols Ralph = Order & Responsibility
Jack = Greed for power. Immediate self-gratification. Tyrannical authority.
Piggy = Science.
Ineffective
intellectualism.
Simon = Christ figure. (but without communication skills). He represents the religious side of man.
Samneric = Dependence (on each other and leaders). Loss of identity through fear (of the beast).
Roger = Evil. Depraved indifference.

18. Objects as Symbols The Beast Lord of the Flies
Is the intangible symbol of man’s capacity for evil.
It is also the equivalent of the Lord of the Flies (the pig’s head).
Lord of the Flies
Is the tangible symbol of evil.
It’s the head of the pig that Jack left as an offering to the “beast.”
“Beelzebub” translates as “Lord of the Flies,” and is another name for the devil.

19. Objects as Symbols Conch shell Fire
Law and order. The shell loses its authority as anarchy grows. The conch fades in color and power as savagery increases.
Fire
Fire stands for two separate things:
For Ralph it symbolizes hope
For Jack it symbolizes destruction.
Also note that Jack’s group allows the fire (hope) to go out.

20. Objects as Symbols The Island Face paint
The island symbolizes the Garden of Eden.
It can also be seen as a microcosm of society at large, a smaller version of the larger world.
Face paint
Represents savagery. The paint helps the boys hide from their own consciences, turning them into anonymous savages who are freed from the restraints of “civilized” behavior.

21. Objects as Symbols Piggy’s Glasses The Creepers
Represent the scientific method and logical thinking.
The original breaking of Piggy’s glasses begins the descent into savagery.
The Creepers
The creepers are vines and symbols of “the snake,” as in the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and represent evil.

22. An Archetype
Archetypes are like universal symbols. They function similarly across cultures, always representing about the same thing.
In Lord of the Flies DARKNESS is an archetype. It represents evil and the unknown.

23. The Pathetic Fallacy
When the weather mirrors human emotions and situations it’s known as the pathetic fallacy.
For example, when things are going well for the boys, it’s always a sunny day.
But as the tension builds in the story, storm clouds build in the sky.
Eventually, the clouds open in a major downpour, complete with thunder and lightning, when Simon is murdered.

24. Symbolism and Allegory
Allegory = A symbolic story
The characters represent: good, evil, common sense, intelligence, instinct, civilization.
Each of the characters symbolically represents a part of mankind.

25. The Book as Religious Allegory: The Island
The book deals with issues of good and evil, with issues of human nature.
The island itself can be considered a symbol for the Garden of Eden: idyllic, fruitful, innocent.
The “creepers” are compared to snakes, like the snake in the garden of Eden.
The “Lord of the Flies” is a reference to an Old Testament demon:
Beelzebub.

26. The Book as Religious Allegory: The Fall
The book includes a motif of falling,
which is intended to reference
The “Fall of Man” from grace (Garden of Eden).
The boys fall from the sky in an airplane.
The parachutist falls from the sky.
Simon falls off a cliff.
Piggy also falls off another cliff.
The conch falls with Piggy.
Ralph falls and crawls forward
at the end of the book.

27. The Book as Religious Allegory: Simon
Simon functions as a Christ figure.
His name is reflective of Simon/ Peter from the Bible.
Simon goes into the wilderness and confronts “the devil.”
Simon feeds the little children.
Simon give sight to the blind (returns Piggy’s glasses).
Simon learns the truth and is “sacrificed” when he tries to share the good news with the others.
After his death, Simon’s head appears to be surrounded by a halo before he is ‘lifted up” and never seen again.